Dhangadi, March 15

Twenty-one-year-old Karna Thapa of Tikapur, Kailali, was murdered in a khukuri attack on March 1. Police tracked down his murderers three days later. In another incident, a girl in Ghodaghodi Municipality-5 ended up in hospital after being thrashed severely by fellow villagers for practising ‘witchcraft’ exactly a week ago.

While the role of Mayor Mamata Prasad Chaudhary and chief of the ward concerned in trying to mediate in the Radha Chaudhary case became controversial, Mayor Chaudhary was shot at and attacked by a khukuri on Monday. Just yesterday, a girl in Bhimadatta Municipality, Kanchanpur, was attacked with scalding ghee for not accepting a marriage proposal.

These are just the representative cases of the deteriorating law and order situation in Province 7 in the past fortnight.

What has, however, added to the challenge of maintaining security in the province is political interference. “The police are facing difficulty carrying out their duties as political protection for the perpetrators is interfering with the course of justice delivery,” said Province 7 Police Chief Madhav Nepal, adding that police have taken the shooting of Mayor Chaudhary as a major security challenge.

DSP Gyan Bahadur Seti of District Police Office, Kanchanpur, on his part, lamented the difficulty his administration was facing in curbing cross-border smuggling. “The open border always poses a challenge to controlling criminal activities, and lack of manpower in the police has added to the challenge,” he reasoned.

On his part, Chief Minister Trilochan Bhatta said he was serious about security challenge in the province. “As I’m aware of the situation, I’ll discuss the security issue with the chiefs of security agencies,” he said, speaking at a joint press conference organised by Press Chautari and Press Centre here today.

He also informed that he had talked to the home minister at the centre in this regard.

READ ALSO:

• Security chiefs told to stay alert